Author Archive
2019 Goal Setting, Executive Function, and Planning Skills
January 1st, 2019 2019-01-01T12:20:55-08:00 2019-01-01T08:28:46-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Setting goals and priorities are the first steps to accomplishing what you want to do. When you set goals, it increases your motivation to take the steps to actualize them. The best way to do this is to write your goals down and then to identify and write the steps you need to take to make them a reality.
Auditory Closure, Visual Closure and Reading Fluency
November 27th, 2018 2018-11-28T21:28:06-08:00 2018-11-27T16:22:39-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Auditory and visual closure play an important role in reading fluency. Auditory closure is the ability to bring sounds and/or words together to gain meaning from them, visual closure is the ability to bring letters, partial letters, or words together to make sense of them.
Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension
October 29th, 2018 2018-10-30T21:22:49-07:00 2018-10-29T00:07:28-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand, analyze, synthesize, and use what you have read. Without comprehension, there is really no point to reading. Graphic organizers allow you to easily take notes and turn what you read into a graphical display or story structure. These strategies improve critical components of reading comprehension.
Phonemic Awareness Activities Improve Reading Skills
March 22nd, 2018 2019-09-30T14:30:38-07:00 2018-03-22T14:25:48-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Phonemic awareness is a foundational skill that impacts one’s ability to read. 7 of the 9 areas of auditory processing impact phonemic awareness. This is because phonemic awareness is the ability to understand sound structure. Activities follow.
Activities to Improve Executive Function Skills
February 26th, 2018 2018-11-13T18:18:42-08:00 2018-02-26T21:37:59-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Before we can get into executive function activities, it is important to understand what executive function is. So, what Is Executive Function? Executive function is the term used to describe a set of mental processes that helps us connect past experience with present action. We use executive function when we perform such activities as planning, organizing, strategizing and paying attention to and remembering details.
How the 5 Senses Impact How We Learn
February 19th, 2018 2019-01-01T12:11:43-08:00 2018-02-19T12:16:52-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
The 5 Senses Impact on How We Learn – How we learn, how we intake information directly impacts our ability to succeed in school. Parents frequently email me or call my office looking for help for their child or teen. They don’t know why their child struggles in school. They just know that they do. Learn what impacts learning skills.
4 Activities to Improve Reading Skills (Part 4 – Writing)
January 10th, 2018 2019-11-30T18:13:30-08:00 2018-01-10T12:00:25-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
One of the easiest ways to improve reading skills with writing is to use fill-in-the-blank graphic organizers. They make note-taking, paragraph writing, and essay writing easy. As a parent, I hated watching my son struggle with a writing assignment. He would stare what would seem like hours at a blank piece of paper. I’m sure you feel the same way.
4 Activities to Improve Reading Skills (Part 3 – Comprehension)
January 3rd, 2018 2020-04-29T07:49:52-07:00 2018-01-03T12:00:01-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
So many children struggle with reading comprehension, specifically finding the main idea of what they are reading or finding details that support the main idea or for sequential order. This can be daunting for some students, and not just those students with LD, dyslexia, or ADHD. You don’t have to have a learning disability to have difficulty with reading comprehension! Even gifted children struggle sometimes with reading comprehension. Solutions are here.
11 Auditory Processing Activities You Can Do Without Spending a Dime!
December 4th, 2017 2020-04-23T11:49:05-07:00 2017-12-04T11:10:21-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Auditory processing is a critical component to reading success. We work on a variety of auditory processing areas every time we do activities from the Reading Pack: Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, Making Spelling Sense, Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills, and The Comprehension Zone. For example, The Comprehension Zone is a game where we play for both auditory memory, auditory comprehension, and reading comprehension. Making Spelling Sense is where we work on auditory discrimination, auditory closure, and auditory memory.
Tips for Parents at Parent Teacher Conferences
November 14th, 2017 2018-12-12T15:54:40-08:00 2017-11-14T12:00:26-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Parent-teacher conferences come around several times a year. This is the perfect time for you to check in and see how your child is doing. Have your kids been turning in their homework? Are they working during class time? Are your kids struggling with their homework? Do your kids like school? So many questions!
Visual Processing and Spelling
November 6th, 2017 2018-12-12T15:55:48-08:00 2017-11-06T12:00:43-08:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Difficulties with visual processing areas can affect spelling. Poor visual memory and visual discrimination skills lead to trouble with spelling.
3 Activities Improve Reading Skills
October 10th, 2017 2017-10-11T18:13:33-07:00 2017-10-10T03:00:49-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
How Homework Can Help Build Self-Esteem and Confidence
September 25th, 2017 2017-09-30T19:12:49-07:00 2017-09-25T12:00:12-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Kids need to feel like they belong, can contribute, and are needed. They also need to feel confident, have a sense of achievement, respect of self and others. Completing and turning in homework gives that sense of accomplishment. It improves one’s self-esteem.
Executive Function Skills and An Argument for Homework
September 18th, 2017 2017-09-19T01:48:10-07:00 2017-09-18T12:55:27-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Developing executive function is a key benefit of homework. Kids can and do learn these skills with short 15 minute assignments. They don’t get burned out or hate school if the total homework only takes 15 minutes. The detriment of homework comes in when daily homework is longer than that.
Learning Disabilities Help
August 28th, 2017 2017-08-31T19:44:37-07:00 2017-08-28T09:22:51-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Learning disabilities and ADHD impact between 15% to 20% of the population. That is 9 to 16 people on a street with 20 homes. That being said, according to the CDC, less that 1 in 3 children with ADHD receives both medication and behavioral therapy. And, students with learning disabilities earn lower grades and experience higher rates of course failure. Listen to find out what you can do to help learning disabilities kids improve their skills.
Homework Help? Practical Solutions
August 21st, 2017 2018-12-12T16:47:02-08:00 2017-08-21T09:00:00-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Homework is something most students deal with if not on a daily basis, then a weekly basis. Homework time can be a lot easier using tips, strategies, and specific tools. Watch the video for some practical tips to help make your evenings a lot smoother and give you back your sanity.
5 Steps to Improve Reading Comprehension with Family Field Trips
August 15th, 2017 2017-08-02T02:49:11-07:00 2017-08-15T12:00:08-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
By having a framework or structure to your family fields trips, you can drastically improve memory skills. If you do not have a bit of a structure to your trips, your kids are not as likely to remember the great things you have done as a family together. With these family field trips, you can improve your vocabulary, memory and factual knowledge base.
Back to School Supplies for Dyslexia and ADHD Kids
August 8th, 2017 2017-08-01T18:38:56-07:00 2017-08-08T12:30:39-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Can back to school supplies really help with school success? School success depends on a number of characteristics: willingness to learn, attending classes regularly, asking questions, being attentive, doing and turning in assignments. One thing that strikes me here is the doing and turning in assignments characteristic. Studies have shown that students tend to do well in school when they have the tools they need handy. So, what are some of those ‘must have’ tools? Are there any ‘secret weapons’ so to speak that will really help your child succeed?
6 Back to School Tips for Dyslexia and ADHD Kids
August 1st, 2017 2017-08-01T18:31:20-07:00 2017-08-01T12:00:49-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Back to school tips: There are specific things you can do to make learning easier for your child with dyslexia or ADHD. Start off by letting your child know that you do remember some struggles from last year. What can you do differently this year?
As Summer Break is Winding Down, Get in a Few Family Activities
July 24th, 2017 2018-09-01T00:04:59-07:00 2017-07-24T22:17:43-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Summer break is winding down, but there is still time to have fun and bring your child’s skills up. There is nothing like taking the last few weeks of the summer and infusing in some extra fun while gearing your kids up for the new school year. This is especially important if your kids have any learning problems, dyslexia, or ADHD. Giving your kids the best start you can is one of the most important things you can do as a parent.
6 Fun Family Activities Prevent the Summer Slide!
July 19th, 2017 2018-12-12T16:04:18-08:00 2017-07-19T15:17:48-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
It’s not too late to prevent the summer slide with fun family activities. The activities are geared for elementary, middle, and high school kids. Listen to the audio. Activities include weekly trips, nature adventures, and home activities.
Math Skills Improve with Math Game
July 13th, 2017 2019-03-20T20:35:26-07:00 2017-07-13T12:53:18-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
A great game to play at home and to improve your math skills is the Math Zone. Kids happily do more math with the game than if you give them a workbook to work in. I played The Math Zone with one of my students just the other day and we shot a video of it so you’d know what it is like.
4th of July Family Activities Improve Learning Skills
July 2nd, 2017 2017-07-03T19:29:06-07:00 2017-07-02T22:13:50-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Participate in fun family activities on July 4th to improve learning skills. You can do some simple activities on July 4th and give your learning skills a boost. Relay races and games can and do build learning skills.
Number Sense is Key to Learning Multiplication Facts
May 9th, 2017 2018-12-12T16:07:21-08:00 2017-05-09T21:30:51-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Number sense comes into learning and retention of multiplication facts in two different areas: The area of counting (by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, and so on) and proportions (twice the size, three times the size, half the size, etc.) Doing concrete activities and counting activities will improve your ability to understand and retain your multiplication facts.
How to Teach and Improve Vocabulary
April 18th, 2017 2018-12-12T16:51:46-08:00 2017-04-18T12:00:28-07:00 Bonnie Terry Bonnie Terry Learning Bonnie Terry
Improve vocabulary is one of the five components to teaching reading as well as improving reading skills. Vocabulary is a strong indicator of student success. Knowledge of words and word meanings is an important key to reading, speaking, and listening success.
